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Learning Relay#3: Crowdfunding

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September 11th - October 19th 2018

Including a full day workshop in London on Sept 21st.

Still a few places left for the third relay. Sign up today! Participation is free of charge.

The explosion of online crowdfunding has made it easier to mobilise people quickly and easily around common interests and causes. Not just in greater numbers, but also across geographical barriers. When it comes to social entrepreneurship and community initiatives, crowdfunding offers an important alternative to get projects off the ground. But the impact for social entrepreneurs and communities goes far beyond monetary value alone. By its nature, crowdfunding provides access to wider audiences and offers the opportunity to enlarge and strengthen networks and movements.

So how can social entrepreneurs, organisations and communities unlock the full potential of crowdfunding? What are the different models out there and what types of projects are they best suited to? And how do you gauge whether crowdfunding is a suitable option for converting a great idea into a reality?

We warmly invite you to take part in our third relay on the topic of Crowdfunding!

The relay includes a full day workshop on the 21st of September and an online learning journey during which you will gain hands on experience with crowdfunding in a peer-2-peer learning environment.

Format & programme

The relay will kick-off with an online meet-up on the 11th of September and a full day workshop on the 21st of September in the city of London. During the workshop we will team up with crowdfunding experts from Nesta and inspiring social innovators to offer you an inspiring day of learning and exchange on the topic of crowdfunding for social innovation.

After these 2 meet-ups you will embark on a 4 week learning relay, during which you will support each other to gain hands-on experience with crowdfunding. What better way to do this than through launching a small campaign?!

Online relay weeks (Sept 21st – Oct 19th 2018)

For this part of the relay we will team up with creative entrepreneur Dejan Mitrovic, who has many years of experience in launching and consulting on crowdfunding projects. By means of 3 additional webinars Dejan will help us work with the Quickstarter guidelines, with one additional rule: the projects we will work on have got to be a projects that address a social or environmental challenge, as local or global as you wish.

During the relay weeks you will work in groups to develop a project and prepare it for launch on Kickstarter -one of the most well known crowdfunding websites. This can either be a project that you bring in yourself or a project brought in by another participant that you would like to support and learn from. We will cover areas such as: idea generation, building the campaign elements, creating a pitch video and developing a pre-launch strategy (marketing, PR, promotion, etc).

Whilst it's easier than ever to launch a crowdfunding project, it can also be intimidating to compete with the likes of Sony, General Electric and Samsung, and their massive R&D and marketing budgets to back up crowdfunding campaigns. The relay aims to lower the barrier to get started and will help you gain valuable experience using crowdfunding as a tool for social innovation.

You bring in a learning question around the topic of crowdfunding and -if applicable- a project you want to crowdfund. We will provide a fertile ground for you to boost your knowledge in this area and learn from and with the other participants to move your initiative a step further.

For who?

The Social Learning Relay is aimed at social entrepreneurs and members of communities and networks working on social change and innovation.

Are you interested in exploring or further developing crowdfunding actions for your work in an inspiring, peer-2-peer learning journey? Apply now!

Learning and network outcomes

Discover the full potential of crowdfunding and the suitability of different models for your own work

Gain hands on experience with running your own or a fellow participants crowdfunding campaign

Establish new connections at a personal level & with other social innovation networks and initiatives;

Action: organise a ripple effect activity during the two month period of the relay.

Time investment: 2 hours a week during 4 relay rounds.

Apply

Participation is free of charge, but we do work with an application procedure to ensure a good match between the projects that participants bring in and the content and format of the relay. If you would like to take part in the relay, we kindly request you to apply via the online application form.

There are still a few places left, so sign up today to make sure you get a spot! We will get in touch with you in the first week of September (at the latest) to inform you if your application has been accepted.

Organisation

The third relay is organised by Young Foundation in collaboration with Social Innovation Exchange (SIX) and DRIFT as part of SIC (Social Innovation Community). SIC is a Horizon 2020 Programme funded project, and run by a consortium of 12 leading organisations across Europe. SIC will run from February 2016- 2019. Find out more at: https://www.siceurope.eu/

Dejan is the founder and creative director of studio Kidesign and has many years of experience in launching and consulting on crowdfunding projects. Kidesign has been around since 2010 and in these years has launched different products that encourage children's creativity and imagination: eg. Kideville - bringing 3D printing into schools through a fun city-design game and an innovative curriculum. Kidesign also run many design and architecture workshops for kids and families in museums across the UK. Dejan is also part of the founding team at Department 22, a design consultancy specialising in innovation, tech, food and the circular economy. One of their latest products is a compact, plug-&-play hydroponics unit designed for homes and schools, allowing people to sustainably grow organic food indoors and reconnect with nature! Alongside Kidesign and Department 22, Dejan also lectures at various universities in London (Royal College of Art, Imperial College, Cass Business School).